Parents from around the county with juniors and seniors in high school, as well as curious incoming Pontiac Township High School freshmen attending freshmen orientation, are invited to attend an open house today from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Livingston Area Career Center.

Director Tera Graves said tonight’s event will debut a new medical terminology course which will be offered next year thanks to feedback from student interest surveys, as well as recommendations from businesses around the county.

“That kept coming up as something that would really help any student who wants to go on to anything in the medical field,” said Graves. “What we want to do today is provide students with the opportunity to have a conversation with our staff. We want them to leave understanding what the class is, where they would go with it in the future and how this class could help them get on the right road to that pathway.”

During the open house, all of the LACC instructors are available and the entire facility is open so that parents and students can come and see the classrooms, explore the different programs and instructors can answer questions directly. Graves said a lot of times, students come to the open house in order to talk about what they have done and what interests them.

“This is targeted more toward students who are eligible to take the courses,” said Graves. “It is more for the students who are potentially interested in enrolling, but maybe need some more information. However, we have been partnered with the PTHS freshmen orientation for a long time and when freshmen tour the building, they can see what is out there, what to look forward to and things that we can offer to help them in the future.

“This open house gives us a good opportunity to address a large group of students and I think the more students start thinking about the direction they want to take their lives, the better prepared they are to make those decisions in the immediate or in some cases not-too-distant future.”

While a lot of information regarding courses and programs the LACC offers is available via their website or pamphlets, Graves said the reason they consider the open house to be the first step in an education at LACC is because it gives the instructors the chance to have a one-on-one conversation with students. With technology constantly changing the way people perform different occupations, Graves said the open house lets students take a step beyond a general course description and into the actual classroom to have their personal questions answered.

“It gives a real clear understanding to the student regarding what knowledge they will gain in each class,” said Graves. “I think parents want their children to get as much education as possible and we want to partner and help them in that.”

Page 2 of 2 - The question Graves said she gets asked most at the open house usually involves parents asking how LACC enrollment can help their student prepare for college. She said a common misconception many parents have is that LACC is generally geared for students planning on not attending college upon completion of their desired program.

“Sometimes that’s true,” said Graves. “But, a lot of the courses really are intended to help students get stackable credentials that we believe will help them with whatever path they choose, whether that be college, work, or a technical school. Many of our architectural engineering students for instance go on to a four-year university and are very successful. So, there are different pathways for each student. We want to help them build those credentials to get there.”